My recipe for CHEAP substrate

[Merriah]

Note: If any of the moderators think that I'm not correct here, please remove this post immediately. It has worked well for me over the last year with both of my snakes.

Step one: Go to your local garden center and buy pure Cypress mulch. A very large bag (25-30 lbs) cost me $3.43 today.
Step two: Place handfuls of mulch onto a cookie sheet, removing large chunks. Pick out anything that you wouldn't want to crawl around in. Also pick out anything with any white on it (mold)
Step three: Bake at 250 degrees for at least 30 minutes to kill any insects or mold that might be in the mulch. You will know it's dry when you don't feel like you are having a steam facial when you open the oven. If in doubt, give it another 5 or 10 minutes.
Step four: Place newspaper on your kitchen table and spread the mulch around it to let it cool.
Step five: When I had one snake, I was packing individually so each time I changed the cage I had the right amount. Now, I have two so I put it all in one heavy duty garbage bag.

One big bag of garden Cypress mulch will last me most of a year for both of my boys.
I'm in the process of baking my mulch right now. It actually throws out a nice smell as if I have a fireplace in here!
Again, I defer to the moderators, but I have paid way too much for substrate. The reason it's so expensive is because they do this process for you. I don't mind doing it myself to save so much money!

[JodanOrNoDan]

Ah. you have me beat. It costs me about $5.20 per animal a year to keep them on paper (this includes vinegar as cleaner).

[Kaorte]

I have never been able to find pure cypress mulch at a garden center. I have terrible luck!

[Slither Seeker]

where are you finding cypress mulch? i checked with lowes and Home depot and neither have it so I shelled out another $25 for 1 cf at petco

[Merriah]

I live in MN, so maybe products differ state to state based on insects or whatever. I buy mine at Lowe's. I did last year, and I got it again this year. I sat down and looked at all the fine print, and it's safe for my boys! They looked at me all weird when I picked it up today, because it's still snowing off and on here. Like "Why would you want this?" I explain, "I want it for my snakes, and I want it while it'e still frozen to prevent bugs". They laughed and provided a handsome young man to bring it to my car. Bonus!

[rdoyle]

I got some from Lowes it was 2.95 no float cypress mulch

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[rdoyle]

They do have large pieces in it

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[FlynnTheBP]

This is such a great idea! I've been buying a coconut mulch from my nearby pet store, and it's expensive, even though I don't do a full cleaning often. (I usually spot clean and then replace the top layer of mulch monthly). This would be so much more cost effective, but I have hardly any time on my hands to go through the disinfecting and cooling process.

[Paty]

I checked for this at first too! Home depot in socal only has dyed bark mulch. Who knows what's in there and I've read that the dye bleeds and turned people's reptile's bellies that color. Probably not safe and the guy at the store couldn't even tell me what kind of bark was actually in there. The bag just said "tree bark".

[Merriah]

[QUOTE=Paty;2511454]I checked for this at first too! Home depot in socal only has dyed bark mulch. Who knows what's in there and I've read that the dye bleeds and turned people's reptile's bellies that color. Probably not safe and the guy at the store couldn't even tell me what kind of bark was actually in there. The bag just said "tree bark". [/QUOTE

Yes, this is why I was specifying PURE cypress mulch. There are variations for sure. If you look around I’m sure you could find it.